This forum was created for nursing students to discuss dying with dignity and issues surrounding end of life care. This forum is was made in conjunction with Dying with Dignity Canada.Please feel to share thought, opinions and personal stories

I know that dying with dignity and euthanasia are very widely discussed topics in the Canadian health care system currently. There are a lot of new initiatives in favor of doctor assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada and it is sparking a very heated debate. As health care workers we try to give the best care possible and advocate for our clients wishes, however when our clients wish to die in a more peaceful manner with our aid Canada will not allow us to assist them in any way. I think Canada should look at the systems created in Europe for doctor assisted suicide and euthanasia and see if they can be implemented in Canada because they allow for patients to die with more dignity and more peacefully while still maintaining a best practise and standards of care. It will allow Canada to offer our people better care in the end of their lives.

As learning about Dying with Dignity and focusing on medically assisted death and euthanasia I believe that this should be an option for patients. However, with that being said I feel that there would need to be generalized criteria and strict regulation around who is eligible for euthanasia and assisted death. I think it would be difficult to mandate this because it would come down to who is responsible for ending the life, is it left up to the physician of the patient or the patient themselves, is this the best option for the patient and what does the patient think and the value of the life of the patient to the patient and to the family. I think that it would be difficult to answer all of these questions because there is strong debate for both sides and there are many different contexts in which assisted suicide should be available and when it shouldn't be. For example, if a patient comes in and is severely depressed and wants to end their life should euthanasia be available to them? or is it only when all interventions have been used and there is no longer life sustaining measures that can assist the care of the patient such as a patient who has terminal cancer and is moved to hospice? I think also age becomes a factor in deciding whether or not medical assisted death and euthanasia is available. As health care providers I feel that we would try our best to sustain life for younger indiivduals and when is that individual able to say to stop treatment and I would like to have euthanasia to die peacefully. As this being said I feel that it is a good idea however it needs to have generalized criteria and strict regulation. I think that Health Canada can provide this to their patients but it will take a lot of considerations.

Before I went into nursing I believed that when people were ill they had to go to a Doctors and get treated and be looked after a certain way. After my three years in nursing so far, the biggest thing I have learned is that people can do what they like. They have the right to refuse treatment, they can leave whenever they please, they can stay and get treated etc. During their stays the hospital is their home so again, they can do what they like, which I love. I like that people get a choice here. That is no different when it comes to dying. People should have the right to choose how they pass away, and if they choose to die with dignity then I think that is fine. It is their lives. Ultimately I say that we give patients options and inform them about treatments to give them a choice, then why can't they have a choice on how they want to die. It should be up to the individual.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Currently Dying with Dignity Canada is advocating for better end of like care options. Check out their website www.dyingwithdignity.ca or their Facebook page. Places in Europe such as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg as well as just south of us in the USA have laws have been passed for assisted suicide. It might be of your interest to check out Kouwenhoven et al. (2013) which shows that nurses and the public support euthanasia. With such hype in the media right now, ie federal court case in BC, Quebec... etc, the Government of Ontario is going to have to address the situation.

Thank you for your thoughts. Both sides make great arguments for DWD and euthanasia. I agree that there would be issues regarding the regulation of euthanasia in Canada. There would have to be strict criteria that patients would need to meet in order to qualify for euthanasia. Check out the articles by Cohen-Almagor (2009) which outlines the policy and procedures to qualify for euthanasia in Belgium.

I feel the same way about what the past 4 years of nursing have taught me. Dying with Dignity Canada believes that each person has as much right to life as to death. Check out dyingwithdignity.ca for more information about the organization or the Facebook page.